Terry McAuliffe began his involvement in national politics with Jimmy Carter's 1980 campaign, quickly becoming Finance Director. In 1988, he became Finance Chairman for Dick Gephardt, and in 1996, National Finance Chairman and Co-Chairman of Clinton-Gore Re-Election campaign. He then served five years as Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, the highest office in the Democratic Party. During this time, the DNC raised over half a billion dollars. In 2007 and 2008, he served as Chairman of the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.

McAuliffe Invested $100K in Atlantic Crossing, the predecessor of Global Crossing, which turned into a reported $18M[1]. McAuliffe did work for the company's CEO, Gary Winnick (incidentally, Winnick contributed $1M to the William J. Clinton Presidential Library). McAuliffe sold his shares prior to the discovery of accounting irregularities demonstrating that Global Crossing had an inflated stock price, resulting in the company's bankruptcy.

While he was Clinton's fundraiser, in 1993 McAuliffe's firm accepted $375,000 "contingency fee" from Prudential Insurance for a lease deal with Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, a government agency.[2]